Huya Shares Leap After-hours on Positive Earnings

Huya shares, which closed Tuesday at $29.72 before the earnings were announced, jumped nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading.

Huya Inc. (NYSE: HUYA), a leading live-streaming game platform in China, said today that its revenue more than doubled in the first quarter this year while it moved into profitability in contrast to a loss a year ago.

Huya shares, which closed Tuesday at $29.72 before the earnings were announced, jumped nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading.

The Guangzhou-based company, which completed its initial public offering last month, said its revenue reached $134.5 million in the three months ended March 31, representing an increase of 111.5 percent over revenue of $63.6 million in the year-ago period. Net income attributable to Huya was $5 million in contrast to a loss of $6.6 million last year.

However, the company, which is majority owned by YY Inc., did report a net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders. For the quarter, that net loss, which deducts from earnings for the payment of preferred shareholders, amounted to $79.1 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with the net loss of $6.6 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago.

"We are pleased to deliver strong operational and financial results for our first quarter as a public company, highlighted by 25.0% growth in average mobile MAUs [monthly average users] and 19.2% growth in average MAUs, both year-over-year, which fueled our 111.5% rise in revenue compared to the first quarter of 2017," said Rongjie Dong, chief executive officer of the company. "Through the execution of our content-driven strategy, we have developed a large, engaged and growing user base that is now over 92 million, with an increasing portion represented by mobile users."

For the quarter, Huya had 41.5 million average MAUs and 92.9 million overall average MAUs, the company said. The number of paying users reached 3.4 million.

Huya, which completed its IPO of 17.25 million American depositary shares at a price of $12 per share in May, said that for the second quarter, it expects net revenue to range from $155 million to $159 million, representing an increase between 110.2 percent and 116.7 percent year-over-year. The company also said it expected a fair value loss stemming from liabilities of preferred shares of about $367 million.